Girls soccer breaks the "tied" streak against Scarborough - By Stephanie Coffin

Tuesday night the Scarborough Red Storms hosted the Windham Eagles in the last game of the regular season. This game was between two of the top girls’ soccer teams in Class A. Many of the girls from both teams are friends off the field, but once they step on the field all gloves are off. A long standing rival with one another, which team would finally come out the victor?
 

When Scarborough and Windham have faced each other in girls’ soccer the last few years, the game has always ended in a tie in overtime. This year the Lady Eagles broke that stretch and won the game 1-0 earning them top seed for the Class A playoffs.

The game started with both sides of the field playing aggressively in their game play. Scarborough kept the ball at the Eagles end of the field for the first part of the half. However, as per the usual the Lady Eagles found their groove. Ciera Berthiaume took a long pass off of Holly Spencer to score with just under two minutes remaining in the first half. The kick from Berthiaume sailed right over the goalie’s head and dropped into the back of the net.

Coach Lebel and the team knew all they needed was one goal against Scarborough and they knew that would take a lot to make happen. Once that goal was made, the team knew then it would take all they had to focus on Scarborough not scoring.

The second half of the game Scarborough continued to put the pressure on the Eagles. Neither side let up in their desire to win the game. Coach Lebel did minimum substituting of the starting players, giving a short rest when needed since the speed of the game was set on ‘full speed ahead’ throughout.

Senior goalie Sadie Nelson along with her defensive team stepped up to defend the goal and helped the Eagles clinch the victory, turning away 11 shots and helping stop 6 corner-kick attacks. Defense was the key for both Windham and Scarborough as each team’s offense took the ball within feet of the goal continuously.

Windham, the two-time defending Class A champion, improved its record to 13-1 heading to the playoffs. Scarborough is 12-1-1.